I’ve learned a bit more about this gun, and been to the range this morning so there is fresh information. The slide is not wartime production; it’s a post-war replacement slide made by  MKB MFG CORP, sometimes called a ‘hard slide’ because… well, because it’s harder than the earlier slides. The barrel and slide are both marked 5129,and the marking is very professional; it seems possible that whoever manufactured them provided them as a set, but with no identifying marks or serial number on the frame there’s no telling… yet. I still have feelers out for more information.

At the range this morning I brought five of the magazines that came with the gun, four seven-shot mags and one eight shot. I brought two loads- one a light 185gr XTP JHP load and the other a 200gr. LSWC, more of a mid-range load.

The 185gr. load is too light; the slide usually didn’t recoil far enough to engage the slide-stop, and occasionally would not go fully into battery when loading the next round. Accuracy was acceptable, though I was testing for function and not focusing on it. The gun consistently shoots a bit low.

The 200gr LSWCs were much better in that they cycled the gun reliably. Accuracy was acceptable. The gun shot a bit low again, so I will be lowering the front sight slightly.

Last I did a magazine of double-taps. On the first one the second shot hit just below the paper, and on the second double-tap the second bullet clipped the bottom. I corrected my grip and suddenly the last two double taps were dialed right in. Nice!

I put a total of 150 rounds downrange, including the under-powered 185gr. loads, and I like the new configuration. I’ll modify the front sight a wee bit to bring the point of impact up, but that will be it for now.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 5 November 2020